The Band

Csaba Bognárguitar

Csaba Bognár was born in Budapest on 7 December, 1985. After completing secondary school, he went on to study at the nation's leading pop/rock music school Kõbányai Zenei Stúdió on guitar major, inspired most by legendary Hungarian blues stars and teachers of KZS János Rudolf Tóth and Egon Póka. His all-time favourite guitarist is Tibor Tátrai, and he even named one of his horses after him - the horse was born during a Tátrai concert. He began his studies at KZS as a blueshead and having been introduced to the world of Scott Henderson, John McLaughlin, and John Scofield, he saw new dimensions opening up for him, and also felt the urge to dig deeper down into the theory of music. With his band at the time he played Mahavishnu Orchestra songs and original music. He later graduated from Liszt Ferenc Music University on jazz major as student of top Hungarian musicians Gyula Babos and Attila László. He himself worked as a guitar teacher for several years as well, both as a private tutor and teacher of the guitar major at Martonvásári Art School. He was the member of several jazz and blues acts, and also played in tribute bands, such as The Hungarian Pink Floyd Show and Santana Cover Band. Alongside Cry Free he is currently working on his own acoustic material. Csaba Bognár plays Fender Stratocaster guitars and uses a Marshall 1987x 50w amp, a Marshall 1960 Classic 4x12 Greenback cabinet, a Line6 M13 effect, and an Electro Harmonics Soul Food Overdrive.

His favourite Deep Purple songs are Child In Time, Mistreated, Burn, and Highway Star.
His favourite Deep Purple albums are In Rock, Fireball, Machine Head, and Burn.

Szergej Kaminszkidrums

Szergej Kaminszki was born in Budapest on 4 May, 1995. His father introduced him to the love of playing drums while he was just a kid. His first great inspiration was Ringo Starr, who fascinated him with his creativity. In the beginning music was not more than a hobby for him, but ever since he started getting to know the true icons of hard rock (Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple) at the age of 12 or 13 he has had a growing ambition to achieve a similar level of success in the biz. At the time John Bonham of Led Zep became his hero, opening a whole new window for him into the world of drumming with his raw and powerful playing, but it is perhaps safe to say that his biggest influence ever was Purple's Ian Paice. In 2008 he started taking lessons from Hungarian drum legend Gábor Németh, who became a key figure in helping him establish the foundations of his knowledge. Later on he continued his studies with other Hungarian classic rock drum icon Zoltán Pálmai. At the same time he decided to learn to play other intruments as well in order that he could have a wider choice of tools when writing his own music. His first performance with Cry Free took place in Budapest on 19 September, 2015, when he substituted for official CF drummer Tamás Tatai, who took part in a foreign project at the time. As Tamás tended to spend more and more time abroad, Szergej became his regular stand-in always helping him out when necessary all the way up to Tamás's departure in November 2017, when he became a full-fledged member of the band. Alongside Cry Free he plays in classic rock project Celebration Days and Heep Freedom - Uriah Heep tribute band. Szergej Kaminszki uses Ludwig Stainless Steel drums (1978) and Paiste cymbals.

His favourite drummers are Ian Paice, John Bonham, Bill Ward, and Bill Bruford.
His favourite Deep Purple songs are Burn, Space Truckin' (Live 72-75), No One Came, Bloodsucker, You Fool No One, Rat Bat Blue, and The Gypsy, along with all the rest written between 1969 and 1976.
His favourite Deep Purple albums are Who Do We Think We Are, In Rock, Machine Head, Fireball, Burn, Come Taste the Band, and Stormbringer, along with all the live albums recorded between 1969 and 1976 (especially Made in Japan, Live in Paris 1975, Live at Long Beach 1976, Live in London 1974).

Attila Scholtzvocals, congas, and harmonica

Attila Scholtz was born in Budapest on 7 June, 1973. He graduated from grammar school in 1991. He took his college degree in teaching English as a foreign language to young learners in 1995, and his university degree in teaching English to grammar school students in 1998. In his civil life he works as a language teacher and translator. He was a founding member of the Foundation for Hungarian Rock Musicians, where he worked for over 4 years supporting young Hungarian talents. He started singing (and playing the keyboards) in bands in 1987. He went to classical vocal training sessions for 10 years. He started playing the blues harmonica in 1995, and the congas in 2006. He also takes on the role of band leader and manager in Cry Free. His favourite singers are Glenn Hughes, David Coverdale, and Ian Gillan. In 2003 he was awarded "Singer of the Year" at Golden Arrow, the award show organised by Hungary's biggest rock club, Wigwam. Attila Scholtz uses Shure SM58 microphones, Hohner and Hering harmonicas, and Meinl congas. Before founding the Deep Purple Cover Band, he had played in Noise (as singer-keyboard player), Sweet Red Wine (as singer-keyboard player), Stephenson Rocket (as keyboard player), Tamas Szekeres and Treo (as singer-harmonica player), and Tamas Szekeres Jam Band (as singer). Alongside Cry Free he can be seen and heard on stage with Nick Simper and Nasty Habits, Dinamit, Zep Session, and Celebration Days.

His first favourite Deep Purple song was Wring That Neck, the all-time favourites are Lazy and Mistreated along with about 100 others.
His favourite Deep Purple albums are Concerto for Group and Orchestra, In Rock, Fireball, Machine Head, Made In Japan, Burn, Stormbringer, and California Jam.

Norbert Soóskeyboards

Norbert Soós was born in Nagykőrös on 23 April, 1981. He is a qualified tradesman and shopkeeper, but his main interest in life has always been music. Besides gigging he is currently working with horses on a ranch. He started playing his father's Petrof upright piano and Böhm Matador electric organ at the age of six. Ten years later he was asked by his dad's old musician friend, Sándor "Santo" Verebély, to join his band, Roxigén. He later played in the bands of Renegod, Pegazus, and Médium, all of whom enjoyed a certain amount of success within the country. He was then asked to join classic Transylvanian rock band Trans Express, which looked back on a long and successful history performing and recording in Romania and Hungary. He debuted in the band supporting Uriah Heep in the nation's biggest concert hall, Petofi Csarnok and still gets invitations from them. Before joining Cry Free he already had experience in the tribute world playing for Blondie tribute band Blonday, where they re-worked the well-known pop-punk songs into hard rock, using the Hammond organ. Since he joined Cry Free in the autumn of 2010, however, the Deep Purple Cover Band has meant absolute priority for him. His favourite keyboardists include Jon Lord, Ken Hensley, and Jimmy Smith along with some of the greatest rock, blues, and jazz Hammond players. Norbert Soós plays Hammond C3 and M3 electric organs with two Leslie 760 cabinets and a Marshall Valvestate 80 amplifier, along with a Fender Rhodes Mark II electric piano, Yamaha SK-20 and Roland A33 master keyboard synthesizers with an iPad, an FX Ringmodulator effect, and a Peavey KB-60 combo as synth amplification.

Csaba Tóthbass

Csaba Tóth was born in Budapest on 12 August, 1975. He started playing in bands very early (while still at primary school) under the musical influence of the 1960s and 70s (The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Cream, Ten Years After, Deep Purple etc). One of his very first bands included guitarist János Kállai, who later went on to join Cry Free and stayed for 8 years. Besides his "civil" education and jobs his real interest has always been music, and as a youngster he spent a whole lot of time learning to play rock and blues on his own by listening to the bass lines of all the classic tunes over and over again. In his bands he often took on the role of the singer, but he also experimented with all the basic instruments out of which the guitar, the blues harp, and the bass guitar proved best for him. It was his act Stephenson Rocket -where he sang and played bass -that brought him his first bigger successes, and established him in the Hungarian blues-rock scene. In his next band Chubby Blues, he changed his instrument to an electro-acoustic guitar to play southern country blues, also showing the world that he is a talented songwriter in terms of both words and music. In the meantime his reputation as one of the most authentic Hungarian blues/rock performers continued growing, and some of the greatest blues and rock legends of the nation (e.g. János Závodi, Ádám Török, and Fecó Balázs) started seeking after him, so very soon he found himself on the biggest Hungarian stages. He was a member of Korál Forever Band and Keith Richards R n R Circus also featuring the late and great György Pribil. Csaba Tóth plays Fender Jazz Bass and Squier Vibe Jazz Bass guitars, along with a powerhouse combination of an Orange Terror Bass amp and an Ashdown cabinet. His favourite bass players are Jack Bruce and Robert Trujillo.

His favourite Deep Purple songs are Gettin' Tighter, You Keep On Moving, Holy Man, Ted The Mechanic, and When A Blind Man Cries.
His favourite Deep Purple albums are In Rock, Burn, Stormbringer, and Come Taste The Band.